A Day in the Life of Mayor David Martin

Q&A with Mayor David Martin

Any coffee?
No. Normally I’ll just have a little OJ, and if I have time, I exercise, then head to the office. Today I got to the office at 8:30 and prepared for a managers meeting.

Any breakfast?
Normally I have a cup of oatmeal, the instant maple-flavored kind, with some dried cranberries, and some tea.

What kind of tea?
Earl Grey [or] English Breakfast. I just need a little caffeine.

Read anything before work?
I checked the weather, [watched] Channel 12 and the morning news shows. I also checked e-mails and messages for what transpired the night before.

How many phone calls in the day?
The staff fields most of my calls. Most of my day is scheduled for me.

How many hands did you shake?
A thousand?

Did you greet a lot of people?
I come in and take the elevator like other employees, so I’m greeting people in the garage, or on the elevator to the mayor’s floor.

What about lunch?
It was at the Stamford Board of Realtors [event]; I grabbed a quick bite. I was the featured speaker so I talked for maybe forty-five minutes, and had fifteen more minutes of questions.

Was it a prepared speech?
I rarely read a speech. This time I had a few things to highlight I thought were relevant to the Stamford Realtors.

How many papers did you sign?
I don’t know how many but what happens almost every day is I go through a host of contracts or resolutions or proclamations [with] my executive aide. She gives me a brief and I sign. If I want more information, we circle back.

What did you read during the day?
I scanned e-mails.

What device do you use?
A computer or my Android.

What was your greatest accomplishment of the day?
I can’t get into the details of this but I addressed a couple of issues that had to be resolved at the WPCA [Water Pollution Control Authority]. In our managers meeting we had an opportunity to talk about some of the new directions we are taking, and [matters related to] the budget. We [also] had the East Side Partnership in to talk about a number of projects on the East Side.

What time did you get home?
Usually I’m able to get home around 9 p.m. It depends on meetings of the Board of Reps, Board of Finance, Board of Ed. Typically it’s twelve hours a day but it can go later. Not a lot of time for myself.